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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 10
【Heat Ray】
I quickly turned to counterattack, but my opponent was one step ahead.
Crack.
He grabbed my wrist and twisted it outwards.
Compared to my prime, he was physically weak, but with my current Strength stat in the 200s, I couldn't resist being dragged along.
Bzzzzt!
The Heat Ray I managed to fire only cut through some innocent trees.
Thwack.
He covered my face with his palm.
Through his slender, firm fingers, I could see him opening the warehouse door.
Thud!
I was kicked from behind and fell face-first into the greenhouse.
Splash!
Tsssss!
The miscellaneous illusions that had covered the floor disappeared, and a calm, dark, shallow water surface stretched out endlessly.
Ahead, I could see the white marble, temple-like warehouse.
Creak.
He closed the door and entered the warehouse.
"I knew you couldn't have died so easily, Baekya."
"Na Jeongwon."
"You shot that Heat Ray at me just now, right? I was surprised you've become so weak. Honestly, even while grabbing your wrist, I was just thinking about dodging a direct hit."
I bounced back up and glared at Na Jeongwon.
A laurel wreath-shaped halo, mixed with lime green and brown.
Gray hair, neatly trimmed into a comma shape, that turned white when it caught the light.
The corners of his eyes and a tear mole that drooped softly but gave off a strangely resolute air.
A lean body clad in cotton pants and a loose-fitting knit vest over a crisp shirt.
A magic staff with a few green leaves still clinging to it.
This guy, with an air reminiscent of a young teaching assistant in a botany class, was one of the self-proclaimed Regressors who came to kill me along with Cheong Siyeol.
Several questions flashed through my mind.
How did he know I was alive?
How did he know I frequented this warehouse among my many others?
And who cursed him?
But 13 years of struggling against an existence that imposed rules regardless of human will had taught me something.
"Endure the pain."
I could only get the answers I wanted if I questioned them after beating them half to death.
At the very least, I needed to be in an advantageous position to get a proper answer.
In my current state, Law of Light wouldn't be enough to break the curse on Na Jeongwon.
So.
【Hellfire (A+)】
【Ignores all of the enemy's defenses and status effect resistance.】
【*Mana shortage makes it difficult to sustain the skill.】
Whoosh!
I ignited the flames of hell in my right hand.
Crack.
Mana drained from me, making me feel like my heart was being squeezed.
Just maintaining the flames made my legs tremble.
However, I succeeded in summoning the Hellfire, and Na Jeongwon took a step back, either in tension or reflex.
"Your temper hasn't changed."
"My heart was pierced by Chronos' Timeblade and I was slowly dying for a month. And I was hunted by my most cherished disciple and beloved colleagues. You should have expected this kind of reaction."
"Endure the pain, huh? You're so sweet, our Sun."
"You can scream. No, I'd actually prefer it if you did."
"But can you really fight me? It looks like you'll collapse from mana exhaustion if we exchange a few more words of small talk here."
"Yeah, let's roll around together. You, covered in inextinguishable flames, and me, gasping for breath from mana exhaustion."
Thump!
In the next moment, both of us kicked off the ground simultaneously.
Black water splashed beneath our feet.
【Flame Arrow】
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
I transformed the Hellfire into several small arrows and shot them in a fan shape.
【Wall of Ice】
Boom!
He raised a massive ice wall from the ground to block them.
Tssss!
The ice wall melted in an instant, creating a thick fog of steam.
Whoosh!
Dozens of ice arrows flew out of the steam in quick succession.
【Form of Fire】
Whoosh!
I transformed my body into flames and let the ice arrows pass through me.
"Ugh."
My timing was perfect, but the elemental matchup was unfavorable.
Summoning the Hellfire had left me with barely any mana.
'Constellation.'
【"How dare that insignificant bug touch you!"】
【"At this point, I'll ignore the Aitel System's restrictions. I'll descend directly into your body..."】
【Your Constellation, 'Sunny,' is enraged.】
'There's no need for that. Please just help me with the Hellfire one more time. I'll finish this in Form of Fire.'
* * *
Baekya, who had been maintaining a distance of over a dozen meters, charged towards Na Jeongwon, leaving a comet-like trail behind him.
Whoosh!
His speed had decreased due to his drastically reduced stats, but his agile footwork and excellent sense of distance remained unchanged.
He kept a distance where he could see and react to the opponent's ranged attacks.
At the same time, it was a distance where he could switch to close combat within a single breath if he wanted to.
This was Baekya's main strategy, making him formidable like a demon both in close and long-range combat, as well as mid-range.
"That would have worked back then."
Na Jeongwon, with a faint smile on his model-student-like face, slammed his staff down.
Thump.
Ripples spread across the black water, and thorny vines sprouted beneath Baekya's feet.
"But not now."
【World Tree's Mistletoe】
Tzzzzt!
The thorny vines, said to have been used by ancient shamans to commune with ancestral spirits through their smoke, now coiled tightly around even Baekya's intangible, flame form, leaving no gap.
Thud!
Immediately after, Baekya was expelled from the elemental world and reverted from flames back to human form.
"Cough!"
Mana backflow caused blood to spurt from his throat.
Na Jeongwon leaned on his staff and approached Baekya.
Tap.
His footsteps carried the weight of an ancient tree, and a green light flickered in his eyes.
"Even with the elemental disadvantage, did I seem that weak to you? I'm the 'Fairy King,' ranked 3rd in Korea and 5th in the world. I haven't even summoned my spirits yet."
"Ugh."
"I was incredibly surprised to learn of your resurrection. But it seems you haven't returned with your original power."
The World Tree's Mistletoe grew profusely, entwining Baekya's limbs and neck.
Baekya's face turned red, then black, in an instant.
Na Jeongwon murmured.
"Even the Sun can't resurrect twice, can it?"
Baekya gasped for breath and asked—
"What... are you going to do now? Are you going to burn down the whole world, starting with this country?"
"Can you tell me what you mean?"
"I'm asking you, the sorcerer who cursed Na Jeongwon. To maintain a curse on an S-Rank Spirit Summoner, you must have planted some kind of bug inside his body, so you can't not be hearing this. Answer me directly. Are you... an international terrorist chosen by the Black Hole Constellation?"
"Is that what you think?"
"Or are you an enemy within the Tower? A high-ranking official from the Awakened Support Agency trying to eliminate me? Or perhaps, a great demon lurking within a Gate."
Na Jeongwon scoffed.
"You truly only see what you want to see. Just like before, even now."
Baekya sneered.
"Are you still acting even after coming this far? If you wanted to kill me, consumed by the despair of being betrayed by my comrades, you've failed. I trust them. It seems you haven't corrupted all the Rankers yet, so at least one of them will become a new hero. That person will kill you and lead this country back to the dawn."
Baekya's eyes, shining like molten steel in a furnace, were filled with unwavering conviction.
"So kill me now. I never thought I'd die twice. Having experienced it once, it wasn't as painful as I thought."
He kept his eyes wide open, as if trying to find something beyond Na Jeongwon until the very end.
Na Jeongwon gritted his teeth, as if disgusted by his attitude, and then waved his staff.
The vines wrapped around Baekya's neck loosened slightly.
"I'll ask you just one thing."
"If you want to know the Awakened Support Agency's secrets, you'll have to dig into my brain yourself."
"What were you planning to do once you regained your former power?"
Baekya couldn't understand Na Jeongwon's question.
But the duty of the one called the Sun of Humanity remained the same, then and now.
"Conquer Gates when they appear, climb to new floors of the Tower."
"And?"
"Raise promising juniors, weed out the rotten ones."
"And?"
"If I can reach them, I'll respond to requests for help from abroad."
"And then?"
"I need to think about institutional and social mechanisms to prevent Awakened from abusing ordinary people. Conversely, I need to improve the perception that ordinary people have of Awakened, where they try to shift all responsibility for security onto us. And drive out the politicians who engage in collusion in the middle."
"Ultimately?"
"I'll climb the Tower. I'll reach the end and find out why this is happening to us. I need to know. What's at the top. Why this is happening to us."
Baekya was powerless, his hands and feet bound.
Na Jeongwon could strangle him to death with just a little more force.
But his voice still carried the unwavering conviction of someone who believed they were right.
"...!"
Na Jeongwon's eyes wavered.
The 'World Tree's Mistletoe' binding Baekya also momentarily weakened its grip.
The Hunter who once reigned at the world's summit didn't miss that moment.
Baekya enveloped his entire right hand in flames and tensed his arm.
【Hellfire (A+)】
"Uaaagh!"
His five fingers curled like sickles.
Veins like IV tubes bulged on the back of his hand.
The mistletoe binding his wrist burned and smoked.
Snap!
The mistletoe finally broke.
Baekya's hand, glowing like iron in a forge, flew towards Na Jeongwon's chest.
Crack!
Its trajectory aimed directly at his heart.
But there was an insurmountable physical gap between an S-Rank and a D-Rank.
Na Jeongwon desperately leaned back.
His light brown knit vest and crisp white shirt were ripped open by Baekya's fingers.
Rip!
He gritted his teeth with a look of frustration.
"Until the very end..."
A green light blazed once again in his eyes behind his crooked glasses.
The severed mistletoe started to grow rapidly again.
But Baekya didn't give up, not even at the very last moment.
"Yes, until the very end!"
He struggled, tearing at the vines binding his left hand with his burning right hand.
He saw an opening to strike at Na Jeongwon's heart.
Just a little faster, please.
If he could just break these vines now and land one blow on Na Jeongwon's chest, he might be able to escape.
That's when Baekya saw it.
'Huh?'
On Na Jeongwon's white chest, exposed between the torn vest and shirt, a pocket watch pattern glowed with a magical blue light.
Suddenly, Cheong Siyeol's words came to mind.
‘I'm not the person you knew.’
'Me, and my comrades, have returned from the future. We are all Regressors.'
'And you, in the not-so-distant future, will become the worst Awakened to betray humanity and set the whole world ablaze. I couldn't bear to let you be remembered that way!'
Baekya had consistently ignored those words until now.
They were nonsense.
It was a typical line used by scammers in the age of the Aitel System.
It wasn't something he, who had even served as the chairman of the Awakened Association, could believe.
Grit!
He gritted his teeth.
A question involuntarily burst forth.
A question he had repeated countless times during the month he was hunted and the few days after his resurrection.
"Na Jeongwon!"
Na Jeongwon, who had stumbled, regained his balance by thrusting his staff into the shallow water.
"Why did you kill me! Why?!"
Na Jeongwon was someone who could summon spirits and kill him at any moment.
"You ask why I killed you?"
But instead of doing that, Na Jeongwon gave the same answer he had repeated for the past month.
"In the previous timeline, you rode the Sun Chariot across the sky, burning everything, and summoned the great demons of the Flame Realm from your sanctuary, leading them into war!"
Baekya tore at the mistletoe binding his left hand.
'Cut the crap.'
The thorny vines were ripped away, leaving a stinging sensation in his palm.
"Cut the crap, you're talking nonsense!"
"Hong Baekya!"
"I'm a first-generation Awakened who awakened at the age of 12 in Aitel's first tutorial. I've closed eleven Rank 1 Gates so far. I've killed five ancient dragons and three great demons."
"No one could stop you. Cheong Siyeol, who reached the 99th floor after countless sacrifices, turned back time!"
"I started climbing the Tower when no one else dared! Thanks to my achievements, this country has become this stable. The number of tutorial participants has increased, the proportion of high-ranking Awakened has risen, and those damn Gates have decreased!"
"Do you know how many Rankers died by your hand? Do you know what happened to those who trusted you until the very end?"
"It was me who took the hand of a middle school Spirit Summoner, who had nothing but a weak body and dying parents, and led him to the Spirit Realm of Aitel. It was me who gathered all sorts of elixirs to help him get chosen by a Constellation."
The middle school Spirit Summoner from back then raised his voice in front of the Awakened, who was the strongest in the world even then.
"Tell me... even in this situation, why would I lie to you?!"
The Awakened, who was the strongest in the world even then, now moved his hand towards the mistletoe binding his ankles.
"Shut the fuck up... and get out of Na Jeongwon's body! You damn criminal bastard!"
Na Jeongwon once again grew the mistletoe.
"Please just listen to me! You stubborn overpowered maniac!"
Baekya's limbs were once again entangled by the mistletoe vines.
He retorted with determination.
"Kill me painfully! I don't negotiate with terrorists!"
Na Jeongwon trembled all over.
He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself.
After wiping his flushed face a few times, he continued.
"I believe everyone deserves a second chance."
"...!"
Baekya raised his eyebrows.
Those words were Na Jeongwon's catchphrase.
He said them when he tried to expel all the low-ranking students from the Awakened Academy.
He said them when he tried to kill all the Hunters who didn't respond to the Gate outbreak summons.
He said them every time he tried to deep-fry the politicians who wanted to put leashes on Hunters.
If the sorcerer knew and used this, it was in poor taste. If not...
Na Jeongwon spoke in a firm and steady voice, as if overcoming his fear with conviction.
"Even if that's you, Baekya."
Baekya looked at Na Jeongwon's chest, exposed between his shirt.
The pocket watch pattern on his white skin was still glowing blue.
He called out to his Constellation.
'Constellation.'
The answer was shocking.
【"It's not fake."】
【Your Constellation 'Sunny' is silent in surprise.】
It felt as if Chronos' Timeblade had pierced his heart once more.
Na Jeongwon spoke, emphasizing each word.
"You betrayed humanity in the previous timeline."
Baekya asked in a voice that seemed ready to crumble at any moment.
"Why would I?"
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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